In the late 1990s, there was great excitement on the NSW Southern Tablelands and in the ACT, as people planted the first olive groves.

Research showed that the region was conducive to growing olive crops like those in Italy and Spain.

About 32 people formed a company which got the industry on its feet. They researched, planted and grew olives, and inspired others to do the same.

The buzz was short-lived though, as growers soon realised that the information they'd based their planting methods on was inaccurate.

The olives needed water but many were planted as dry-land crops and when the drought struck, trees died.

Most people's crops were too small and the maturing time for each grove didn't meet the original expectations.

Olive grower Peter O'Clery, from Hall in the ACT, was one of the first people to plant trees in the region.

"What we discovered was that all the material that was put out suggested three to five years would see a grove established to a level that would produce a viable, sustainable crop, and that just didn't happen," he said.

Of the 32 original growers, there are now just three still operating.

"Most of their groves are still around but they're either not big enough or they don't produce enough, or they've sold," he said.

"And you get somebody ring you up one evening and say, 'I've got x kilos of olives, what do I do with them?'"

One olive grower who lost almost his entire crop managed to profit from his bad luck.

Michael Welford planted olives in the late 1990s and spent $20,000 on a processor to crush the fruit.

When drought and wild deer ruined his trees, he had no use for the equipment.

Then the phone started to ring.

"Unbeknownst to me, the people I purchased the machine from put my name in a register and people in the area found me and called me and I was quite aghast when I had two or three callers say, 'You've got a processor, can you process our olives?'" he said.

"And I was going, 'Ah, I've never done it before!'"

Mr Welford says his customer base has grown to 55 in the last 10 years.